Isometric Sketching

Learning Objectives

• Understand the vocabulary related to Isometric Sketching

• Be able to create Isometric Sketches using the Box method.

Isometric Pictorial

Isometric means equal measure.

• Three adjacent faces on a cube will share a single point

• Edges converge at one

point will appear as 120

degree angles or 30

degrees from the horizon

line

Isometric Pictorial

• These three edges represent height, width, and depth

heig

ht

View labels

Top, Front, Right Side

view orientation

Top, Left Side, Front,

view orientation

View Selection

• Recommendations for how to select the front view

– Most natural position or use

– Shows best shape and characteristic contours

– Longest dimensions

– Fewest hidden lines

– Most stable and natural position

Orthographic View Selection

Best shape

Description

Longest Dimension

Most natural position

No hidden edges

The Box Method• The box method is a

sketching technique used to maintain proportionality

• It starts with a sketcher envisioning an object contained within an imaginary box

Proportion and Estimation• Good sketching requires

a sense of proportion, and the ability to estimate size, distance, angles, and other spatial relationships

Isometric Sketching

• The following examples show steps used to create isometric sketches of simple geometric objects, including tonal shading techniques

EXAMPLE 1

Isometric Sketch

Step 1: Construct the BoxLayout the box that will contain the isometric view using points and construction lines

Follow along in

the worksheet.

Step 2: Outside FacesUse points and construction lines to identify corners and edges of object faces that occur on box surface

Step 2: Outside Faces (continued)Trace visible edges of part with thick, dark object lines

Step 3: Inside FacesIn this case, there are no inside faces

Step 4 - Tonal Shading

• Decide the light

source position, and

add tonal shading to

two of the three faces

• A shading option is to

use parallel lines

drawn closely

together on a face

• Increase contrast by

cross-hatching lines

on darkest face

EXAMPLE 2

Isometric Sketch

Step 1: Constructing The Box

• 3 units wide

• 2 units tall

• 2 units deep

Determine the overall dimensions of the object:

Use points and construction lines to layout the box.

Step 2: Outside FacesUse points and construction lines to identify corners and edges of object faces that occur on surface of the box

Step 2 – Outside Faces (continued)Before sketch becomes too congested with construction lines, trace visible edges with object lines

Step 3 - Inside Faces

Use points and construction lines to identify the corners and edges of the object faces that occur inside the box.

Step 3 - Inside Faces (continued)

Trace out remaining visible edges with object lines

Step 4 - Tonal Shading

• Decide the light source position, and add tonal shading to two of the three faces

• A shading option is to use parallel lines drawn closely together on a face

• Increase contrast by cross-hatching lines on darkest face

Isometric Sketch Example

Isometric Sketch Example

Isometric Sketch Historical Example

• Earl Silas Tupper (1907 -1983) invented an air-tight Tupper Seal in 1947

• Patent drawings of bowl and cover, 1957 (isometric pictorial)

Courtesy Smithsonian Institute:

http://sil.si.edu/exhibitions/doodles

Isometric Drawing Activity

References

Tupper, Earl Silas. Patent drawings, 1957. Smithsonian Institute: http://sil.si.edu.exhibitions/doodles

Wikipedia (2011). Three point flexural test. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Threepoint.jpg